Exhibition Tour: Textures of Being
When
Nov 14, 2026
11:00 am-12:00 pm
Where
Contemporary Craft
5645 Butler Street, Pittsburgh PA 15201

Join us for a guided tour of Textures of Being. Textures of Being brings together artists whose practices honor the body—its sensitivities and its wisdom—as a site of deep creative knowledge. Rooted in materiality and lived experience, this exhibition reimagines disability as a form of freedom and a distinct intimate lens through which the world is encountered, shaped, and perceived. In the United States, one in four adults lives with a disability. Yet our environment and cultural system continue to privilege an imagined norm, often neglecting the rich variation of how bodies move, feel, perceive, and relate. This exhibition shifts the focus from compliance and accommodation to the sensory realities that animate disabled life—textures of resistance and adaptation, fragility and strength, constraint and imagination. Together, the artists create a multidimensional portrait of embodiment that exceeds symbolic inclusion and moves toward a fuller, more tender understanding of what it means to inhabit a body. The intimacy and solidarity expressed through the work evoke a sense of care, reciprocity and community. Textures of Being is both an offering and a call for everyone to honor the textures that make each of us, and all of us, fully and profoundly human. This exhibition was juried and organized by Yu-San Cheng, Director of Visual Engagement at Contemporary Craft, and Fran Flaherty, the creator of Anthropology of Motherhood and a deaf artist based in Pittsburgh.
The Raphael Building (5645 Butler Street) is wheelchair accessible. Power assist doors are located at the main entrance at the front of the building on Butler Street. An accessible parking space for the Raphael Building is available in our front parking lot facing Butler Street. Due to limited space, please call in advance. Service animals such as guide dogs are permitted to assist visitors.
Please contact Contemporary Craft with inquiries and/or concerns regarding the accessibility program at info@contemporarycraft.org or 412-261-7003. Please note that requests for accommodations should be made at least two weeks prior to your visit. Thank you!